In 200 BC, a nomadic group of shepherds, in search of new pastures, leave the mountains to settle close to a fishing village. The women of the village hide and the only ones to venture out are Arta, the fisherman's wife, and a twelve-year-old girl, Chloe. Skymnos, a young shepherd, approaches Chloe who walks semi-naked around the rocks and the beach. Among the two children begins a tantalising game, which does not clearly end up with the couple having intercourse. On the other hand, although Arta initially rejects Tsakalos, she finally succumbs and the couple meets in a cave where Skymnos and Chloe can watch through a crack in the rock. When the shepherds decide to leave, Skymnos refuses to follow them. Lykas, a mute teenage shepherd, finds Chloe and rapes her. When Skymnos witnesses this scene, he allows himself to be swept away by the sea holding a dead pelican in his arms.

==============================================The Genesis of a Mythby Yiorgos YiatromanolakisI will refer to the way an ancient Greek novel was adapted to the screen. This novel is Longus' well-known pastoral romance Daphnis and Chloe also called Pastorals, written, based on all indications, in the second half of the 2nd century AD. As far as I know, no other ancient Greek novel has been made into a film since, even a few years ago, most of these texts had not yet been translated and were completely unknown to the public. However, Longus is famous: his work has been translated into modern Greek several times, he has received Goethe's eternal praise for its completeness and appeal. Longus has also inspired many musicians, painters and other artists.[Ι]Koundouros's starting point is Longus and, primarily, the theme of the two young heroes' initiation to love. However, the setting, though also belonging to an earlier period, is completely different from Longus' bucolic surroundings. Even the title of the film bears no relation to Longus: Young Aphrodites define the director's main concern. Koundouros uses a version of the "mythical method", known from poetry. Pastorals define the framework and his story is linked to the old romance, but the rest has little to do with Longus. Because of this, Koundouros's story could be read outside the context of Pastorals - and it is read. However, since the archetypal story of the two young lovers dominates the film, the dimensions of Young Aphrodites overcome the temporary and the contemporary. Pastorals are the starting point; they provide the sensual atmosphere and the mystery of initiation, but the contemporary creator remains independent. The use of the past is now realised through a new story based on an old one; it is a new "mythology" based on antiquity. Therefore, we have the genesis of a myth - as Elytis would say when commenting on the way the poets of his era used mythology. Obviously, this is extremely interesting, though this attempt had no successors. The sexual instinct of the adults will be gradually steeped in the rocks and the sea, and spread even to the two young children, slowly shaping their vague sexual desire. This is the central element of the film: austere setting, costumes that reveal the bodies' sexual nature, faces and gazes revealing love's dominant presence. Nature-Earth, water and air - and the bodies overcome the rudimentary myth and independently create their own romantic narrative. The continual rearrangement of bodies and spaces composes a constant renewal, which narrates the libidinal dialogue among bodies, between the elements of nature and between bodies and nature. Through a carefully created architectural construction, the audience is able to gradually distinguish pleasure and pain.

I have two versions of this disc. The American release they sell on Amazon, and the original Greek disc (English subs added). The Greek disc is slightly shorter but nothing you're likely to miss and it's native PAL. So I'll post both versions and you can decide which one you prefer.

The release year in this thread is wrong by the way. The film first came out in 1963, when actress Kleopatra Rota was thirteen, but didn't debut in the US until three years later.

Here are direct links for those who prefer that method or can't use eMule for whatever reason. All I ask is that if you're able to use eMule, please unrar to your shared folder and seed this for a while. Every source helps. You can still burn an .iso file to disc while it's being shared. It won't interfere with the recording process.

Phuzzy4242 wrote:Thanks, deadman. I fixed the release date. The PAL version may be exactly the same film - PAL uses a different frame rate so it's a little faster when viewed as an NTSC.

That's definitely part of it. But there are also a few missing sequences, mostly inconsequential stuff. Back when I posted these on Usenet I had to create the subtitles for the Greek DVD using the ones from the American disc as a guide. Boy was that tedious! There were a few lines that got dropped entirely, and some lines of dialogue are spoken while the camera is on something different than it is in the American release.

I had to determine each sub's timing manually since the differences weren't a simple factor of anything. If there wasn't so little talking in the movie I would've given up and posted the disc without subs. And actually, you could watch it that way. The story is basically understandable without the dialogue.